[Prognostic evaluation of lymph node metastasis in thoracic esophageal cancer--an analysis of 212 cases].

The authors studied retrospectively lymph node metastatic status impacts on survival of the 212 patients with thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and lymph node metastasis after curative resection. 663 (19.4%) of the total 3419 lymph nodes examined (an average of 16.1 per patient) were proved to be positive. The overall 5-year survival rate was 19.3%. The results showed that no difference in survival was observed in relation to the site of the involved lymph node. Difference in survival based on the number of metastatic lymph nodes (1 or > or = 2) and the frequency of positive nodes (< or = 10% or > 10%). The results indicate that staging of esophageal cancer should be made according to the absolute number and the relative frequency of lymph nodes involved. The effectiveness and limitation of extended lymph node dissection in relation to prognosis was discussed.